subject: How to Remove Malware Effectively with Spybot Search and Destroy [print this page] How to Remove Malware Effectively with Spybot Search and Destroy
Maybe you will not know you are infected with spyware, crapware and any other unwanted malware when you are surfing the Internet. But after you discover you are infected, you'll find out there is no effective way to clean them up. Now I will show you how to Remove Malware effectively with Spybot Search & Destroy.
Important Installation Notes
When you are installing Spybot Search & Destroy, there are two windows you should pay special attention to.
Here you can see the Components Selection Window which is recommends you to make sure that "Download updates immediately" and "Security Center integration" are selected.
Note: After it is installed, there may also be several minor updates that canbe downloaded.
In the Additional Tasks Window, it is definitely recommended to make sure that the "Use Internet Explorer protection (SDHelper)" and "Use System Settings protection (Tea Timer)" boxes are both ticked. It can give you extra protection for your system.
Scanning for Malware
After the installation of Spybot Search & Destroy and start it for the first time, you will be asked if you would like to make a "Registry Backup" before scanning with the software. It is recommended to make the backup( backups are always a good thing).
Here is the screenshot shown below, Spybot Search & Destroy was already hard at work catching malware while still in the initial setup process right after startup. Since we know that both of these were malware, we chose to have both processes shut down and removed.
The main Home Window turns up once the initial setup process is finished. Now you can choose which action you would like to perform. In this part, we choose "Search for Updates" just in case anything else was available (recommended).
Now you can see there are extra updates available for the Immunization database, including the Tea Timer service selected during the install process and an English language descriptions file. After you have completed downloading any available updates, click on "Exit" to close the Updates Window.
You will be returned to the main Home Window after the Updates Window has closed. Now is a good time to go ahead and Immunize your system. Here is the amount of Immunization that is available to be applied (Unprotected versus Protected). To apply the Immunization, just click on the "Green Plus Sign Immunize Button". This not only helps your installed browsers, but also boosts your Hosts File as well.
After the Immunization is complete, you can see the shift in numbers from "Unprotected" to "Protected". Now it is time to start scanning for malware. Click on the "Search & Destroy Button" on the left side of the window.
In order to start scanning, click on the "Check for problems" button.
You can track the progress using the color bar and numerical counter at the very bottom of the window. You will also be able to see which type of malware Spybot Search & Destroy is searching for at any given moment beside the numerical counter. While scanning our example system, you can see that Spybot Search & Destroy was building a list of the malware (including their amount and type).
Note: Spybot Search & Destroy will take a while to complete the scan, so be patient to wait for a moment.
Once Scanning is Complete
Once Spybot Search & Destroy has finished scanning for malware, you can see the list which show the number of problems found in the lower left corner of the window. In the main part of the window, you can see the compiled list of what has been found.
Clicking on the "Plus Sign" beside each entry will allow you to see information about each item found (Registry value, File, Location...etc). The value of the compiled list is that you can go through to check for false positives (if any) and deselect those particular entries. You can be very specific in what is or not deleted.
Removing the Malware
After you have checked over the compiled list, click on "Fix selected problems". You will be prompted by asking if you want to continue. Click "Yes" to start removing the malware.
Now you will see a large green checkmark beside the entry for each item of malware on the compiled list that was successfully removed. If some of the malware discovered is in active use at the moment, you can choose to have those items removed when you restart your computer. Simply click "Yes" to activate this option.
Then you will see a message providing details about the number of problems fixed. If there are problems that will be fixed during a reboot, those will be shown as well and you will be asked to restart your computer. Select "OK" to restart your machine.
Malware Removal During a Reboot
Keep in mind if you have malware that is being removed during a reboot, Spybot Search & Destroy will also conduct a whole new scan during the process in case any malware tries to reestablish itself during restart. Since your system will not finish restarting entirely until the scan is complete, take it easy when you see a black screen.
Note: This scan will take longer than the regular scan to finish, so be patient when you wait for it. Of course Spybot Search & Destroy will let you know when it is completed.
As you can see from this part, part of malware did try to reestablish itself during the restart but was finally caught by Spybot Search & Destroy. To remove any malware problems found, select "Fix selected problems" and then your system will finish restarting.
In this part, the processes caught trying to reestablish themselves had startup entries that created repeating momentary popup windows with messages showing that they were failing to load. So it is recommended to go ahead and do another restart at that point.
Conclusion
Spybot Search & Destroy is pretty meticulous and efficient in removing malware from a computer system alought it is not the fastest anti-malware software. But this is indeed a recommended anti-malware app to have around.
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